Massive Black Environment Paintings: The Rust Falls

[Jason Manley]

hey...two unreleased environ paintings I did last fall are up on cgchannel.

take a looksy if you want..there is an interview there as well.


http://www.cgchannel.com/news/viewfeature.jsp?newsid=2515


Here is one of the images from the cgchannel story above. It is an environment mood image for the in house project in development at Massive Black.


http://www.conceptart.org/rustfalls/RUST_FALLS.JPG

[Miau]

wicked :btu:

[scottg]

very nice. Sweet color work!!!!

[sone_one]

amazing color work jason. cant wait for the first april weekend... ill learn sooo much *excited*

[Skank]

great pieces and great interview jason.
the future plans for the site sound very exciting!
im very dissapointed that i wont be able to attend the upcomming workshop, but ill be damned if i miss the next one!!

thanks for sharing this man, inspiring as always!

[Oblio]

damn - i'm still in the bassement :chug:
great one, yo!

Oblio

[pogonip]

Taken as just a mood painting I think it looks ok ...but I contrast the quality with that of Ryan Church or Eric Tiemens and I think it could be better in the area of deffinition . It seems to me with Ryan church his enviroments are clearly defined while setting the mood and the lighting for a scene . Still it's a pretty good mood piece .

[bhuddistmonk]

ooooooo....me like. I love the color complements. very nice, very nice.

[nikia]

This is one fantastic picture! Very well done!

[Loga4]

Great painting,Jason!

[Jason Manley]

Originally posted by pogonip
Taken as just a mood painting I think it looks ok ...but I contrast the quality with that of Ryan Church or Eric Tiemens and I think it could be better in the area of deffinition . It seems to me with Ryan church his enviroments are clearly defined while setting the mood and the lighting for a scene . Still it's a pretty good mood piece .


for where this image was used in the production pipeline, any more definition would have taken time from other tasks that were more important to getting the new IP off and running. these get spilled out to decide on direction and nothing more. if it is chosen as the right direction then it will get flushed out with detail shots.

this kind of thing is like a writers outline for his or her story. once the outline gets the ok by the Art Director and the team then more time is spent. ya follow?

once these pieces do get the ok then resource will be gathered, time will be spent flushing out areas of importance like the ruins for example...even creatures for this area would have to be concepted were it approved. plant life will need to be created, everything down to insects and strange wildlife will need to be designed using this process.

big first. little later. I work differently than those boys...simple as that. early on in the visual brainstorm, the trick is to suggest just enough info so that the team gets the idea. there is no use rendering out those little trees or the ruins anymore if it is not going to be used for the project.

Those approved images will get very flushed out as the pipeline progresses. When I am back working on this stuff you will see more concepts in polished form.

j

[MindCandyMan]

awesome jason thanks for keeping us updated on massive black...great stuff

[bwkeough]

Jason-

Great colors and shapes in the landscape.

I really enjoyed reading the interview, gave me a better idea of form and purpose of CA.org; it reinforced my growing perception of CA as a school of artists.

[Avetice]

yeah that interview was fun to read, i knew you said you started late in terms of getting serious with art but i didn't know it was 20. Just reminds me of how much harder i always need to work. I'm always trying to work hard but sometimes you gotta push even further :D
anywho just the usual ohh ahh from me for now and keep those updates coming

[TARGETE]

Great piece Jason, The mood is there, something that is hard to capture sometimes with to much rendering and detail and you have grasp of that. Boy! I need to get a posse like you have at Massive Black..Petey, Hatala, looking forward to what you guys produce.

JP

[behemot5]

:chug:

[endregan]

raw and beautiful. love it

[winjer]

i cant tell wtf is going on. but the colors look pretty

[Jason Manley]

miau and scott g...thank you. :)

sone_one....what can i say? Amsterdam Artist Workshop? Yum!

skank...thanks...yeah we will do another eventually.

oblio...you are definitely not in the basement. I have seen your seismics demo info going up on the web. You guys are doing well! keep at it!

bhuddist...yeah its a compliment palette...always works for drama. ;)

nikia and loga4...thanks...you are very kind.

mindcandy...thanks...will let you all know more as soon as I am able.

bwkeough...thats one of the things we are trying to do...seems like its going well...everyone is growing so quickly that it is inspiring me to try to keep up and learn.

avetice..yeah...i guess thats late...i wish i had started life drawing sooner...dont think i was ready for it though. one can wish.

Thanks JP...we cant wait either! ;)

behemot5.... :beer:

endragon...thats how my starts are...roughed in...this is an image about 40 percent finished.

winjer...the details are not important early on in the production of a new world...they are nice to have..don't get me wrong..i love detail...the main things to think about at that time are where, what, when, and why in terms of creation of the environment. once you know where the trees(details) are going to go, what time of day it is, what perspective you want, what kind of mood you want to convey, and why the world needs to exist that way or other details that support that mood and feel of the image...or making more refined space and form and perfection of architecture...it is possible to zoom all the way down to the design of the archways in the windows and the flakes of paint on the walls....as time goes on in the project these things get filled naturally due to the other work being done by the team...these kinds of images are also used to discuss color palettes for that particular area in the world being created. if the art director decides or the team decides that they dont want to do any waterfalls then then spending more time on it will take away from the areas of the project that do get approved. later on in the project there are times where freetime comes up and allows me to go back in and work on them more...or if they need to be used for print etc...for now, that kind of image will suit its purpose of igniting discussion about the environments within the team in terms of content and even technical limits or changes.


Part of being a concept artist is keeping the team involved in idea development. Realizing that better ideas can come from outside oneself is also important. working general to specific in the concept pipeline allows for this to happen because there is time to come back to things that would have had no time to be redone or changed for the better if they were fully realized in the first place.

rendering details is tempting...and time consuming...and fun...that stuff comes later when time and team decisions allow.





sorry about the horrendous grammar...im very sleepy and its just a brainstorm. bedtime. night all.


j

[tegehel]

Jason,

I particularly like the blue/city area (it looks like a city to me). I'm less sure about the red in the maelstrom, but that is a personal preference anyway.

Other than due to time constraints and artistic restrictions, I do think that sometimes, pieces with less details are actually more interesting, they "bring you in" more than a fully detailed piece since your imagination has to fill the gaps, so to speak, and this very process is indeed what makes a painting or a concept "alive": this very basic interaction between the object and the subject. As you mentioned, one can so easily get absorbed in details, and while fun and time consuming, it can also, perhaps paradoxally, render a piece lifeless (or less alive, depending.)

Creating a mood with a minimum amount of work is a gift, in my experience, and I am always amazed by how a simple shape, or well-placed brushstroke can convey a very definite idea, without revealing any unnecessary details. I think it borders on the sublime: simplicity in its purest form as the quintessential representation of life. I must admit, I do envy your talent; and as a matter of fact, I would be very interested in seeing the process you go through to create a piece from start to finish (without having to fly to some workshop, I'm afraid). Additionally, just to get an idea, how long did it take you to create this piece?

Thanks,

C.

[Olivier]

Best one ive seen from you imo ;)

[Briareos]

nice non-objective abstract piece. The use of arbitrary color is intriguing.

[Jason Manley]

thanks for the 3 star vote of confidence landmate/briareos

lol

[viag]

woohoo nice use of color , great pic !

[Mindflaw]

Hi Jason

I like the colours compositionalwise, but they don´t seem logical, since the only lightsources I see are from those warm red yellow and red, how come that the light from the ruins in the background could be so strong and so cold? I´m asking because I´m really in the beginning of learning colours and I don´t know if this is just to enhance the mood and composition or if it´s something I not yet learnt.

About the composition other than the colour I think that it imo does not really hit the target so to speak...it´s just a feeling I get, sorry about not beeing able to explain.

[Rinaldo]

poor jason, everyone gets riped apart when they post here it seems :x

I really like the colors.

hmm I think maybe it would make more sense if taken in context. if just presented without the story or whatever it's trying to describe it appears pretty abstract at this stage of development.
not that I care mind :P got any more like this?